When a team member needs instruction, your entire staff’s success could hinge on whether he or she receives it.

The importance of coaching, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Coach ’em up: Yael Bacharach, cofounder and director of training at the Bacharach Leadership Group, considers the ability to coach an essential trait of strong leaders. She applauds pragmatic leaders who understand that their success is tied to the accomplishments of the people around them. As an association leader, how can you be a better coach? Remember to listen to your employees, says Bacharach. “All too often we listen with impatience and a lack of attentiveness, which in turn hampers dialogue. We are focused on our next argument or our own agenda,” she writes for Inc.com. “Be genuinely curious. Don’t do all the talking, and keep interruptions to a minimum. Pace the conversation, and don’t be afraid to keep it focused and on-target.” What coaching techniques do you use to empower staff?

A better gift bag: Gift bags and door prizes are standard fare at association events. But have you ever stopped to think about whether all that free swag is having its desired effect? BizBash columnist D. Channing Muller speaks with Jessica Hoy, a veteran event planner with public relations firm NeuProfile, who details a new approach to the traditional gift bag. In addition to stuffing individual bags with flyers, gifts, and other marketing materials at a recent Rock the Vote pool party, Hoy set up separate stations for each of the event’s 11 sponsors, displaying the products alongside their sponsors’ various social media outlets. Guests took pictures of the products and wrote about them individually on their blogs and other online platforms. Hoy says the approach extended the sponsor benefit beyond the usual take-home gifts.

A newish Facebook: Facebook has a reputation for spontaneous upgrades—tweaking its algorithm and changing its user interface on what seems like a whim. Its latest changes could affect the visibility of business pages, including the one run by your organization—in a good way. Writing for SocialFish, AABB marketing manager Maggie McGary explains the changes, including a new “Story Bumping” feature that will emphasize pushing stories and posts that users haven’t seen. “This way Facebook figures users will see more relevant updates, even if some are older,” McGary explains. Here’s what Facebook had to say about it: “For page owners, this means their most popular organic page posts have a higher chance of being shown to more people, even if they’re more than a few hours old.”

What do you think? Tell us in the comments.

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